Ex-Goldman trader runs calculations, says young bankers now living hand-to-mouth

Last time we said that mid-ranking bankers were struggling to live in Central London, we received a barrage of outraged comments from members of the public complaining that anyone on a six figure pay packet should have no complaints about their lifestyle.

Kreil's calculations, included in his university tour are provided below. As an analyst (the most junior position in an investment bank) working in a trading role, Kreil says you'll make up to £50k in your first year and will effectively be a contractor for two to three years with limited job security (he says that only 20% of an analysts get an offer of a full time place). You won't be able to live in Central London and you won't be able to pay off your student debts.

As an associate in a trading role, Kreil says you'll earn up to £180k, but that some of your stock will be locked up and out of reach for five years. You'll just about be able to live in central London, but you won't be able to save and you will live on your salary on a month to month basis.

Only when you become a vice president or managing director earning £300k plus will you be able to comfortably afford to live in central London according to Kreil. And then a large portion of your pay will be deferred and you'll be 'locked in' and unable to leave your job even if you want to.

Kreil says he derived figures for traders' pay in banks from 'off the record conversations' with three managing directors at U.S. investment banks in September 2013.

How much traders earn in investment banks:

Source: Institute of Trading

Kreil says young traders in investment banks are even worse off when their long working hours and income tax payments are taken into his consideration. Below are his calculations for net hourly pay.

Net pay per hour for traders in investment banks:

Source: Institute of Trading

Kreil's findings echo our earlier into investigation into the lifestyles of young bankers today, most of whom spend long years living in shared accommodation with other banking juniors. Then, Muzaffar Khan, a former trader and hedge fund strategist who coaches young bankers in the City, said it was mainly young operations professionals who suffered - they only earn £50k a year and need to live close to work and are expected to spend money on socializing, said Khan.

However, Kreil suggests young traders are struggling too - or that they are at least struggling compared to their expectations. "I speak to hundreds of students who want to work as traders in banks and their expectation is that they will have to work very hard for two to three years but that when they reach associate or VP level they will start making money and living a good life in Central London.

"That's no longer the reality," says Kreil. "If you work in trading in an investment bank, the reality now is that you'll be flat sharing for the first six to seven years. You won't be in a position to buy your own place in London aged 28 - wake up and smell the coffee."

What are aspiring traders to do? Needless to say, Kreil says they might want to attend his trading academy instead of going for banking jobs.

There's no point in training as a trader in an investment bank now, Kreil says. You don't get paid - you won't make the money that will allow you to leave and become a trader in your own right. You only get taught how to put orders into a trade management system and to monitor them using an algorithm. And you get no chance to develop the kind of audited track record that will allow you to move into a hedge fund in future. Banks' contracts include stipulations that they own traders' track records, says Kreil.

"The notion that you go into a bank as preparation for moving into hedge funds is wrong and perpetuated by what happened in the past," Kreil adds.